Brad Smith, President of Microsoft, has described the CMA’s decision to block its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard as “bad for Britain” and the Xbox format holder’s “darkest day” in its four decades of working in the UK.
The UK regular announced yesterday that it decided against the deal due to it believing the acquisition would harm the growing cloud gaming space, and “not merging firms with commercial interests.” Smith, however, has said Microsoft is “very disappointed” with the decision.
It does more than shake our confidence in the future of the opportunity to grow a technology business in Britain than we’ve ever confronted before. People are shocked, people are disappointed, and people’s confidence in technology in the UK has been severely shaken. There’s a clear message here – the European Union is a more attractive place to start a business than the United Kingdom.
In response to Smith’s comments, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister said that it was wrong to label the CMA’s decision bad for Britain. “These sorts of claims are not borne by facts,” they commented.
In related news, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick issued his own response yesterday, making it clear that while he is also disappointed by the decision, “it is far from the final word on this deal.”
[Source – BBC News]